Connecting the Dots: A Reflection on Knowledge Management and Storytelling

GIG recently held a panel webinar featuring three Government Knowledge and Information Management (GKIM) professionals talking about their work in the sector, the diverse areas of policy they support, their routes into the civil service environment, the skills required, and the unique selling points and big challenges GKIM offers knowledge and information professionals, as well as answering questions from attendees.

Here, Siobhan Wood reflects on how hearing about the role of storytelling in knowledge management led her to learn more about the field, and how the skills she has developed through her learning and work overlap with those required for knowledge management. Siobhan is a Library Assistant with Lancashire County Council and is currently pursuing Certification via the apprenticeship conversion route.

Exposition: Setting the Scene

The apprenticeship conversion process for Professional Registration requires us to demonstrate our understanding of the wider sector. With this in mind, I tuned into the "What's it really like working in government information in 2026?" webinar from the CILIP Government Information Group (GIG) special interest group, part of the CILIP Members' Fest. I squeezed it into my lunch break, and it definitely showed me that these sessions are well worth attending right to the very end.

Inciting Incident: The Spark of Inspiration

The speakers were incredibly generous with their time, and the attendees asked lots of great questions. During the session, Hank Malik (Knowledge Lead Partner, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) mentioned the concept of storytelling. Intrigued by this, I was inspired to look up another online webinar from GIG, "An introduction to storytelling in the Home Office" which discussed their use of Freytag’s pyramid.

Rising Action: Connecting to My Past 

These sessions really got me thinking about my own career path. Having studied Human Resource Management and worked as an HR manager before qualifying as a library assistant through the LIAS apprenticeship, I was fascinated to hear that Knowledge Management doesn't just sit within IT, tech, and digital departments. It is fundamentally a blend of people and processes.

Hank described knowledge managers as "curators" who encourage conversations and capture that human data. Having previously trained in journalism and written blogs, case studies, policies, and procedures, I realised that whenever I interviewed subject experts, I had been practising knowledge management all along.

Climax: The Central Realisation 

This central realisation actually tied back to a question I asked during the Members' Fest GIG webinar: what is Knowledge Management doing well that others in the wider sector could learn from? The answer was striking: it excels at connecting lessons learnt and identifying "who knows what," ensuring we don't lose that vital data when someone leaves an organisation.

Falling Action: Bringing It Back to Libraries

In short, knowledge managers are connectors. I immediately saw how this relates to the work of library assistants in public libraries. Our daily work involves researching and contacting people we can signpost customers to, as well as identifying opportunities to enhance community services and building the relationships needed to improve them. We are connectors, too.

Resolution: Moving Forward

After attending these webinars, I feel empowered to continue documenting processes in my own role, and to always value the human aspect behind them. And, to honour what I learnt from the Home Office session, I decided to structure this reflective blog using Freytag’s pyramid to immediately put that storytelling lesson into practice.

Thanks to Siobhan for sharing her thoughts. If you missed out on attending the webinar, the presentation and Q&A given by one of the speakers (Frances Cassidy, Subscriptions Librarian at the Bank of England) is available to view on YouTube.